Before You Attempt to Backtrack

• You must be able to belly fly reasonably well. See "Belly Drills for Freefly Skills"
• You must read and understand "So You Wanna Freefly"
• You must ensure that your gear is ok for freefly (that's covered on "So You Wanna Freefly").

Backtracking - Ground Training

Get with a member of Taihiko or a freeflyer that you trust and ask them to show you how to do the following:

• Basic backtrack body position
• How to transition from belly track to backtrack

Backtracking - Solo 1

It is very important that you look down and know exactly where you are exiting and what direction jump run is. You do not want to mistakenly fly under or over other groups. Keep checking your spot and heading periodically in freefall. You're going to want to get out either first or last, head 90 degrees off of jump run for about half the dive and then if you start getting too far out, head parallel to jump run for the rest of the dive.

• Exit on your belly facing the prop
• Begin tracking immediately
• As soon as you're off the hill or as soon as you can, turn 90 degrees off of jump run
• Once you have established a good heading, roll over onto your backtrack
• Get the feel of your backtrack, and try to keep it flat, fast, and on heading
• About halfway through the dive, roll over and check your spot
• If you haven't really gone anywhere yet, keep heading the same direction
• Else, if you're getting too far out, turn 90 degrees (parallel to jump run) towards a better spot
• Repeat exercise

Backtracking - Solo 2

Before you attempt to lead your friends on a tracking dive, there's one more solo I would recommend. Some people try to lead a dive before they're ready, and it's no good when they literally start tracking in circles. This is basically the same dive without any belly tracking.

• Setup facing the tail
• Exit on your backtrack
• As soon as you're off the hill or as soon as you can, turn 90 degrees off of jump run
• About halfway through the dive, check your spot
• It's a little tricky from your back, but you can do it, just look over your shoulder
• If you haven't really gone anywhere yet, keep heading the same direction
• Else, if you're getting too far out, turn 90 degrees (parallel to jump run) towards a better spot
• Backtrack till breakoff

Group Tracking Dives

Just a few things to be aware of on group tracking dives.

• Breakoff
• I recommend a 5000' breakoff for tracking dives
• Don't just use 90 degress of sky - people have a tendency to just veer off a little bit putting the whole group in the same 90 degree quadrant of sky out in front of the leader
• Start Small
• Your heading control may not be as good as you think at first, so just lead a 2 or 3 way first
• Have a Belly Flyer be Responsible for the Heading
• Landing off stinks, and flying back over jump run is even worse
• Have a belly flyer designated as the spotter who will give you hand signals to turn if you're getting too far out or too close to jump run